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Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Body and Soul

SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN NYC GET ME UP

CODY LYON

Although many New Yorkers grudgingly swear that more than half thecity’s residents are part of some loosely organized mass exodus toa beach house on summer holiday weekends, those are actually theweekends that the “left behind” can find the most memorable of NewYork treats.

In fact, the non-jet ski set can sometimes find a dose of urbanspiritual nourishment that benefits the soul for months to come.

Not a religious experience, per se, but instead, a gathering of likeminded spirits, all very much alive, enjoying the fellowship of eachother, coming together for one reason, the music, at least that’swhat happened this past July 4th weekend.

The Body and Soul reunion party shook a collective booty to its coreat the PS-1 space in Queens, bringing together a cocktail ofcultures, families and sexual orientations that surely remindedmore than one participant that New York truly is a magnificentmosaic as former Mayor David Dinkins once proclaimed.

Although Sunday afternoons at the Tribeca club Vinyl (later namedARC) was the spot to meet the music on a weekly basis for manyyears, the weekly Body and Soul party disbanded after facingdifficulty with the club space and other issues among the Djs andorganizers. But for one holiday weekend afternoon, Saturday from 3til 9 was the time for church, as many of the party faithful likedto call the Body and Soul experience, back in the day.

Djs Danny Krivit, Francois K and Joe Claussell did not disappoint acrowd of thousands who had paid a ten dollar admission fee, andanother $6 each for ice cold draft beers that flowed far too easilyunder a hot Queens sun in the concrete fortress of music at PS-1. The temperature kept getting hotter as a troubled nation moved another day closer to the 30 year anniversary of its highly celebrated bicentennial, a year that at least a thirdof this party’s crowd, might actually remember.

A crowd wide chronic music infection was evidenced by smiles on facesof every color of the human rainbow, every size on the scale, everyage from 3 to 65, all making moves to the beat of a different drum.No judgment passed on who was cool and who was not, just pureun-adulterated fun, joy, release and soul.

Occasionally, after a longer re-mix, or extended session peoplewould erupt into cheers and hollering this or that or whatever, it didn't matter as long as it felt good, real and true.

All the while, pulsing bodies poured in and out of the building at PS-1, moving among dancers on crowded steps that were crowned at the top with the DJ’s canopied booth. The sun gave everyone a glistening tone, some more than others, as sweatflowed like a fountain, but, at this party, sweat was a badge ofsuccess, a sign that you’d truly felt the light.

Speakers surrounded the main courtyard of the former school andsound boomed against the old red brick walls rising up like a volcaniceruption, only the lava was the sound, carried even further byspeakers in the back of the complex where others danced and playedin wading pools with their kids.

In its later years, Body and Soul saw pilgrimages by the curiouswho’d heard about this place where the emphasis was on the music,not the “scene.” Even European tourists began to make Body andSoul part of the New York itinerary. According to those who’dbeen, Sunday nights at Vinyl (ARC) were where one could still findthe real spirit of New York.

Certainly, like every nightclub party, there was rivalry,differences, and any other number of shady events or normal humaninteraction issues, but unlike most other dance club experiences,Body and Soul was true to its name.

Martha Graham once said “I am absorbed in the magic of movement andlight. Movement never lies”.

Body and Soul did not lie to the participants left in the city thispast July 4th weekend. That day in Queens let everyone at PS-1 knowthat movement is alive and well in New York City and New York isstill filled with magic.